Steve Jobs has died: Apple has lost its digital emperor

Apple has announced news that the tech world, and indeed millions of consumers, will find hard to get a hold of: Steve Jobs has died aged 56, after a long battle with cancer. The Apple.com website displays this image:

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

In his must-read New Yorker feature on 1980s Palo Alto earlier this year, Malcolm Gladwell described Steve Jobs as a "digital emperor". Well, the Apple Empire has lost its emperor – but Jobs's legacy is so toweringly impressive that it will be decades before we even begin to fully understand it. Another Apple statement says: "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives … The world is immeasurably better because of Steve." Sitting here, typing this on a Macbook, having learned the sad news on an iPhone, it would be impossible not to agree. RIP Steve Jobs.